I wasn't suggesting piping it... Though you do have a much more complete argument for why NOT to.
As for corn ethanol - Is there any country other than the USA that wants to use corn? Its a terrible Idea. Sugar cane... much better, and the world could do without so much sugar anyway. I kind of expected you would trot out the 'corn ethanol'. I think its a terrible idea, but there are alternatives.
Hmm... for the mixing fuel and ethanol, I know that you are 'not supposed to'. Aside from ethanol blends being properly mixed, I suspect that they would contain some sort of emulsifier to prevent separation. Just pumping in X and Y amounts - no surprise it never went forwards.
As for the lack of 'higher compression' ethanol running engines... well, they are not hard to manufacture, there simply is no demand for them. And these 'flex fuel' cars... have to be able to run on the worst grade fuel they have.
Which would be why these 'high compressions' don't readily exist. Higher compression does tend to increase efficiency. Though diseasel (I love that one - thanks) does run substantially higher.
Its driveability. Diesel does give more torque, but the torque tends to drop off at higher revs... Something that modern diesels are starting to overcome, but they are not quite there yet. And if you want to keep it to bio fuels (I'd like to), bio diesel has a lot further to go before it can compare to bio ethanol. You may as well run your diesel on vegetable oil*. Still works, plenty of torque, but no power.
Functional, but not fun.
Yes, I know diesel is the more efficient fuel when it come to the extraction of energy from the fuel. But you are wrong about saying that the compression doesn't matter for diesels. Adiabatic compression is what sets off the fuel, right? Hmm... Its been a while since I went through the theory of engines at this detail, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Gasoline was considered too flammable for engine, till development managed to make it work. I think because kerosene was too expensive. We can get _any_ fuel to work.
In the end, renewable of fossil. Bio diesel will be needed, for things like trucks. But given the choice, I'd take the ethanol. I care about my cars too much. If they aren't fun to drive, why bother.
I think I've lost the thread here. In the end, I would happily rebuild my engine every 5 years for the privilege of using ethanol.
Back in Aus, I put 10% ethanol fuel into my car. As a japanese import skyline, its designed for a higher octane fuel that we have back home (which I understand is still higher than in the UK). It stops pinging quite remarkably.
I'd love to convert that car to pure ethanol (or even e85), if it were available. Of course, if it was bio ethanol, I'd kinda like to show the finger to our government about their emissions regulations and the epa... but thats getting political.
Here in the UK, I haven't actually seen any ethanol blended petrol for sale. I'll have to take more notice.
And to the poster a few up (who probably won't be back) more to the upper midwest US? Aside from there being no jobs there, and visa issues, isn't that sorta redneck territory? Oops, sorry. ;)
*I've heard you can distil diesel from vegetable oil from fish & chips shops. I thought about looking into it... but apparently the car ends up smelling like fish & ship oil. I've heard it can be done with coconut oil too, but I don't live in the solomons.